The Fallen Ch. 04

"No," Harmony shakes her head.

At that short statement my father's expression falls to a frown. It's not the end of her sentence, though.

Hope is rekindled when she continues, "Not until I know who I'm assigning to your Covey."

She turns to gaze solemnly toward Danni and I.

At our silence Harmony Grace declares, "I shall begin. I am also known as Kalakus."

The name sounds vaguely familiar, but I can't seem to recall from when or where. I can't even dredge up a connotation, good or bad, to match it with. Damn you crappy memory nonsense...

"Cassandriel," I blurt nervously. "Uh, my other name is Cassandriel."

Harmony's eyes flicker briefly in recognition, but the tiny cue is so brief and subtle I doubt anyone else noticed it. The Overseer chooses not to divulge how or from where she knows Cassie, instead turning toward Danni.

"And you, my dear?" she asks.

"Jophiel," Danni reveals softly.

Harmony merely nods, no recognition apparent in her facial expression.

Hoping my joking tone covers up my anxiety, I quip, "Do we getta join the cool kids club now, or what?"

"Of course," Harmony tells us before turning to my father. "I shall grant your request, Ash."

I smile at this. I'm overcome with a strong sense relief as my worry disappears, and I turn to look at Danni with my patented, cheesy-ass grin. She's smiling back, and I throw her a quick wink. The Overseer stands, walks over to the huge windows, and admires the skyline view for a moment.

"Excellent," my father says. "I suppose we should..."

"On one condition," Harmony interrupts, placing her hands behind her back and turning to face us once more.

Dad raises his eyebrows and asks, "Oh?"

"A favor for a favor, Ash," Harmony begins as she walks slowly back toward us.

My father frowns and asks, "I'm not going to like this, am I? The favors you ask have a bad habit of being...dangerous."

The other woman sighs and responds, "You can be so negative sometimes Ash."

"It's all part of my manly essence, Harmony," father jokes, cracking a smile. "Besides, I'm not wrong."

"Ash," she says seriously, "you don't really think I'd intentionally put ones so young in harm's way, do you?"

"I was hoping not."

"But you were thinking it," Harmony says sadly.

"Eh, so what? All it means is I care what happens to these four."

"Implying I don't? I'm not a monster, Ash," she says sadly. "It's not easy making the decisions I have to make."

My father opens his mouth, and I can see a retort on his lips. It never leaves the launchpad, though. He closes his mouth, looks at her, and gives her a wry grin. There's a moment of silence between them.

"Hold on," father laughs. "Did I miss something? When did we start dating again?"

Harmony looks at him quizzically for a moment before giving off that light, magical laugh of hers.

"You're right," she shakes her head. "I can't believe I just..."

"Old habits die hard, as they say," father chuckles.

"I'm sorry, Ash."

"You don't owe me an apology."

"And you don't owe me any explanations," Harmony nods.

I sense that their time as a couple had been brief, but passionate. They obviously still have feelings for each other, but the pair most likely concluded they were better off as friends.

I give off a kind of nervous laugh as I ask, "Uh...so...what's this favor then?"

Harmony gives me an eager, lopsided grin and reveals, "I want the five of you..."

She points to each of us in turn as she speaks.

"...to take me out to a club tonight! I want to have some fun!"

My jaw drops open a little bit. Not because of the request, but from what dad says next.

"Sure. Sounds like a blast."

* * * * * *

It's about 7 PM when we pull up to a little hole-in-the-wall place named "Club Mystery", and I'm still having a hard time believing my straight-laced father agreed to this. At the end of the day I guess he likes to blow off steam the same as anyone else.

"Dad?" I ask as he steers into the parking lot.

"Yes dear?"

"What about school tomorrow?" I wonder.

"Inservice day," he explains. "Did you even read the schedule they gave you?"

"Well, ya know," I shrug with a sardonic grin, "kind of a lot going on in my life right now."

"Three day weekend!" my twin brother enthuses, doing this little dance with his upper body.

Father parks his Caddy in the small lot across the street, and we all spill out of the big SUV. There's a piercing "bwoop-bwoop" from the vehicle when he sets the alarm. I can't blame him. This isn't exactly an upscale neighborhood, but it's not totally janky either.

Maybe it's because the sun's about to go down and dusk is painting it's dark brush over everything, but this place my father chose...wow. Just wow. Club Mystery and the buildings around it have a real shady aura, a desperate and furtive feeling like there's an edge of danger around every corner.

I hate to admit it, but it's kind of exciting. The old me would have been way too chicken to even get out of the vehicle, but I'm the new and improved Erykah two-point-oh. With Cassie having my back, and surrounded by friends and family my heart holds no fear.

There's a 30-ish, somewhat skinny, heavily-tattooed man to the side of the front door. He's seated on a stool and holding a lit cigarette in one hand. With his scruffy beard, dark sunglasses, and black beret he's giving off a sort of bad-boy beatnik vibe.

From the open front door of the club I can hear the heavy rhythm of Trance music pounding forth. Bright red and blue strobe lights pulse and flash inside, illuminating a rather crowded interior. Three young men are smoking outside near the alley at the end of the building. When I look at them my first thought is "frat boys".

As we approach the beatnik he lowers his sunglasses, squints at father, and shouts, "You got a lotta nerve coming back here, shit-bird!"

What the hell?

My dad points at the open door and tells the man gruffly, "Me and my friends are walking through that door, and if you know what's good for you you'll get out of the way."

The beatnik clenches his fists and hops off the stool, his feet spread wide as if he's ready to scrap.

"Oh yeah, jackass?" he growls.

"Damn straight," father growls back, taking his own aggressive stance only two feet from the man.

My hackles are raised at this point, not knowing who or what this man is, and I'm ready to come to father's defense. I'm so taken off guard it doesn't occur to me to question why he'd bring us here if he thought a fight was imminent.

The two men both make a quick, feinting motion toward each other, then embrace in a brotherly hug and pat one another on the back like long-lost friends.

Jesus fucking Christ.

I exhale with relief as the two men separate.

"When did you get back into town?" father asks.

"Last week, Tommy boy. Hey there Harmony...Chris...chickadee. What's the haps?"

Chris chuckles at that, and Harmony gives the man a tolerant grin.

Chiaki rolls her eyes and responds, "I told you my name is Chiaki."

The man holds up his hands in the universal gesture of surrender.

"Okay, okay...Chee-aaaah-keee. I'm bad with names so don't get your sweet little panties in a twist," the man says.

He looks over at Danni and I with a bit of a leer.

"Speaking of little, sweet, and names...can I get the ones for blackie and blondie over here? Maybe a couple phone numbers to go with?"

I gawk at the man like he just crawled out of the 1980's. Does that approach even work, like ever?

"Easy there, big fella," my father chuckles, then tells a bit of a lie. "This is my cousin Erykah and her girlfriend Danni. Ladies, this is Vinnie Durante. If he seems like a chauvinistic neanderthal just ignore it. He doesn't mean anything by it. He's a good guy...most of the time."

"Ladies," he says, pointing a pair of pistol-fingers at Danni and I and throwing us a wink. "So, if blackie's off the table then how about you, blondie? Wanna trade numbers, maybe get together later?"

Now Danni gawks at him like he just crawled out of the 80's. He gives her a wink, and I realize Vinnie isn't actually hitting on either of us. He's totally just messing with us.

"No?" Vinnie chuckles. "In that case, welcome to my humble abode."

He makes a sweeping gesture toward Club Mystery before adding, "Mi casa es su casa."

"Oh, and by the way, blackie," he addresses me with a laugh, "that look on your face when you thought Tommy and me were gonna thrown down...that was priceless! You looked like you were ready to rip off my head and shit down my neck!"

I kind of still am.

"Uh, yeah," I say flatly, not sure what else to say.

"I'm glad you're back, Vinnie," father says, vigorously shaking the man's hand. "Everything fine with you and Carla? The club still treating you right?"

"Yup yup," Vinnie nods. "She's as grouchy as ever, but we're good. Business has been slammin' lately. Haven't seen them one fellas in more than three months now. I think you put the fear of god in them."

"No," my father laughs, "I put the fear of me in them. God never follows through."

Vinnie grins and says, "That works too. All I know is they haven't been back."

"Good to hear," my dad smiles sincerely. "You've still got my number if you need anything, right?"

"Damn straight, Tommy," Vinnie grins. "You gotta come over one of these weekends for a barbecue. Bring your whole crew. I just got me a grill-master apocalypse 3000 or some shit, I forget the name of it, but there's no point in even firing it up unless I got people to cook for! Burns half a tank of propane just to turn that bitch on!"

"Next weekend. I promise," dad tells him.

"I'm gonna hold you to that," Vinnie says, poking at my father's chest. "Enough jawing. Get your rich asses in there and spend some money...I got five kids to feed!"

Dad chuckles and says, "Will do."

We transition inside, and I take Danni's hand, giving her an excited smile that she returns. I focus on my father to send him a mental message.

"How in the heck are you friends with that guy?" I ask.

"He's one of my Faithful," he replies, "as well as a friend. It's a long story."

"Oh. Maybe later then."

Faithful? I decide this isn't the time or place for questions. We're here to have fun, so I drop it for now.

Danni leans over to ask, "You ever been drunk before?"

"No. You?"

"No."

"Looks like we're both getting our booze cherries popped tonight," I giggle.

Danni gets a kick out of that, laughing loudly before she replies, "Please be gentle."

The interior is just as seedy as the outside. The dance floor is hopping, and the inside is packed with a loud, boisterous crowd in the early stages of getting plastered. The place seems extremely popular with the college crowd, many of them "shakin' they booty" in a tight, sweaty cluster under the strobe lights. On a small, slightly raised stage is a DJ spinning the beats. Harmony makes a beeline for the bar, though, and we all sort of follow.

"Shots?" my dad asks loudly, fighting to be heard over the din of music and loud drinkers.

"Shots!" Harmony grins.

Dad leans against the bar and waits for one of the bartenders to be free. There's two women behind the counter, enthusiastically slinging bottles of beer and pouring shots and mixed drinks with a quick, impressive skill. The closest to us finishes with the small mob of college kids she's serving and turns to see our group for the first time. Her eyes light up when they fall on my father, and she utters a high-pitched, feminine squeal of excitement.

"Tommy!" she calls out happily, practically running to where he leans against the bar.

"Hi Carla," he smiles.

"Tommy!" Carla repeats when she reaches him, leaning over the bar to give him a big hug. "You sexy beast, where you been hiding yourself?"

The woman lets go, but not before she gives dad a big kiss straight on the lips. I realize Carla isn't wearing a bra, and I can see her perky nipples pressing against her black t-shirt. Nice. I imagine drunk college guys tip better if they see a frisky rack jiggling while being served their drinks.

"I've been around," dad says. "How have you been?"

Carla shrugs, looking around at the packed nightclub and saying, "Busier than a funeral home fan in July."

"That's good, yeah?" Danni asks.

The bartender gives Danni a quick nod, saying, "Heck yeah."

"Hey Carla," I butt in, "do you and Vinnie really have five kids?"

"Psssh. He telling people that again?" she laughs. "I'm not even thirty yet. Heck no I don't have five kids. Just one, a boy. Two years old. I got a picture I can show you later if you want."

"Yeah, I'd like that," I nod. "I'm Erykah, by the way, and this is Danni. I'm guessing you know everyone else?"

"Pleased to meet you," she smiles, and I note she's quite attractive with that big smile on her face. "Yeah, I know the rest of these troublemakers."

"Shots shots shots shots," Harmony starts chanting, a grin painting her lips.

"Yeah, of course!" Carla enthuses. "I'll rack up the usual."

"Yes please!" Harmony replies.

Carla lines up way more than enough shot glasses for all of us, pulling out two bottles and pouring equal doses from each into the first six glasses. She pushes the small cluster toward Harmony.

"Some 252's to start you off, Harm," Carla says.

Hahah wut? Six shots to start off? I might be a drinking neophyte, but I know enough to realize that would get the average person piss-drunk. Those are straight liquor, not cut with anything.

"Thank you thank you," Harmony replies gratefully before slamming the first shot.

As the Overseer proceeds to down shot after shot, Carla pours my father a different type. It ends up with the lower half full of amber liquid, the top half a caramel colored layer.

"One buttery nipple," our bartender says as she pushes it toward my father.

"Thanks," he says, lifting in to his lips.

Danni and I both giggle when Carla grabs her own tits and shakes them at my father, saying, "But you just say the word, Tommy, and you can have these buttery nipples anytime."

Father, Chris, and Chiaki laugh at this, and Harmony almost chokes on her last shot (oh my god she already drank all those). She manages to slug it down, but her eyes water at the effort. She shakes her head and laughs lightly at Carla's display.

I'm starting to see why Vinnie and Carla are a couple. She's like a female version of him.

"One coke," Carla says, pushing a can of soda toward Chiaki.

The bartender gets out a slightly larger glass, fills it with red bull, then pours some liquor into a shot glass before dropping it into the red bull.

"A Jäger bomb for you, sir," she smiles, pushing the drink toward Chris then turning to Danni and I. "What can I get for you ladies?"

We're both at a loss, so I shrug and say, "We have absolutely no idea."

"How about I give you both a wet pussy?" Carla asks with a wink.

We all giggle and laugh again, and I hope that's an actual drink. Turns out it is. She grabs of pair of bottles, filling the last two shot glasses with equal portions from each. She adds a small splash of what looks like cranberry juice, then squeezes a lime slice into it and drops the remaining peel into the drink. The resulting liquid is a light reddish-pink color.

Danni and I lift our shots, look at each other with big grins, and down them at the same time. I was expecting some harshness or burning, but it goes down pretty smooth. Almost the second it hits my stomach I feel a warmth spreading up into my neck and outward to my limbs.

"Wow. That's good," I comment.

Danni nods in agreement, adding, "Really good. A little too good."

* * * * * *

It's an hour later and Danni and I are sitting at a table, nursing our third pair of beers. Danni has a shit-eating perma-grin, telling me she's feeling a happy glow.

The same happy glow I've got.

Whew...I think I'm a little drunk. No...actually...I'm a lot drunk.

And horny. Oh my god am I horny. It's all I can do to keep my hands off Danni while I ponder if it's the booze that's making me this hot and bothered.

"Blue jeans, black shirt. Umm, brown hair," Danni squints as she slurs a little, pointing at a guy on the dance floor.

"Yeah," I nod slowly, slurring a bit also. "He's got a cute butt. One point for Danni!"

"Yay!" Danni proclaims. "Your turn."

Danni and I are playing the "who's got a cute butt" game, which only adds fuel to the fires of my overactive libido. Yeah, we're dorks. It's just something silly our alcohol-fueled minds came up with while we sit here watching the others tear up the dance floor.

Father and Chiaki are dancing together, their moves respectable but nothing special. Chris and Harmony, though...good lord. My brother has some serious moves on him. He's better by far than anyone else out there, Harmony coming in a close second. The pair have this look of pure joy on their faces.

I watch Harmony as she goes round and round and round with my brother and can't help but marvel at the woman. I swear she must have a little engine inside that runs off booze. I've seen her consume enough drinks to knock an elephant under the table. I don't get how she's still vertical, let alone alive.

"Harmony!" I blurt out with a giggle. "She's got a smoking hot butt."

Danni joins in my laughter and admits, "You're right! Point goes to Erykah!"

As we sit there laughing and giggling like drunken fools, a younger, college-aged man swaggers up to our table and smiles at Danni. We both look him up and down. He's well dressed and groomed, fairly cute, but has a sharky sort of smile. His motivations are obviously a few inches below his belt buckle. Something about him raises a red flag in my gut, like he's the type who just wants to take without giving in return.

"Excuse me," he begins, "but I was wondering if you could help me out?"

"Oh yeah?" Danni grins.

"Yeah," the guy nods, locking eyes with her. "You see, my friends bet me I wouldn't start a conversation with the most beautiful woman in the bar. You wanna go buy some drinks with their money?"

"Tempting. Very tempting," Danni replies, "but there's only one problem with that."

"Oh?" the guy asks.

Danni gives him a toothy grin as she says, "My girlfriend here would get real jealous."

He seems confused for a moment and looks back and forth between Danni and I. After a few seconds the light bulb comes on, and he gets it.

"Oh. You're lesbos," he concludes, spitting out that last word in a derogatory manner.

"Bi, actually," Danni chuckles and shrugs, "but you're just not our type. Sorry. No threesome for you tonight."

Good for Danni. She might be drunk, but like me she could tell something is off about this guy.

The fellow mumbles a few words I don't pay attention to, then ambles back into the press of drunken, sweaty humanity around us. I don't pay him much mind as he leaves. I'm much more interested in the implications of what Danni just said. When she called us bisexual was she just being obtuse with the guy, or did she mean it? It's a little more difficult with my head swimming drunkenly, but I focus my thoughts and project them toward her.

"Danni? Did you...do you still want...?"

I trail off, uncertain of how to finish phrasing my question. Danni looks me straight in the eyes with a dead serious expression, knowing what I was getting at.

"Erykah...you know I love you more than anything, right?"

"Yeah. Of course."

I know without a doubt she does, just as I love her. Our very souls have been intertwined almost as long as the universe itself has existed.

Danni's thoughts echo my own as she continues, "And I know you love me, but you can't tell me you haven't been wondering since last night."